Alpaca: Fees, Features, and More (2025)

Alpaca is an API‑first brokerage aimed at developers and quant‑minded investors who want to automate trades rather than click through a dashboard. The platform supports full‑ and fractional‑share stock/ETF orders alongside partner‑facilitated crypto trading at about 0.35 % per transaction, all executable programmatically via its open Trading API. With no built‑in web or desktop interface—and no options, bonds, or mutual funds—Alpaca keeps the toolset lean so traders can focus on coding, margin‑enabled strategies with no account minimum.

Detailed feature breakdown for Alpaca brokerage (2025)
Feature
Website https://alpaca.markets/
Broker Type API-Only
Trading: Stock & ETF? Yes
ETF & Stock commission No fee
Fractional Shares? Yes
Percent Allocations? Yes; via API
Crypto Trading? Yes
Crypto Fees 0.35%
Options Trading? No
Options Fee not applicable
Bond Trading Available? No
Pays for Order Flow (PFOF)? Yes
Interface: Web trading? No
Desktop trading? No
API Trading? Yes; Alpaca Trading API
Mutual Funds: Offered? No
Total Mutual Funds None
NTF Mutual Funds None
Non-NTF Fund Fee not applicable
Early Redemption Fee? not applicable
Redemption Hold (Days) not applicable
Early Redemption Fee not applicable
Accounts: Margin Accounts? Yes
IRAs Offered? No
HSAs Offered? No
Money Market Sweep? No
CDs Offered? No
Robo-Advisor: Offered No
Robo-Advisor Service none
Robo-Advisor Fes not applicable
Basics: Headquarters San Mateo, CA
Year Founded 2018
Clearing Firm Apex Clearing
Local Branches? No
New Account Minimum $0

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